CRITICS: PUT ROAD BACK ON MAP

Attention, motorists of Poinciana and surrounding areas of Osceola and Polk counties: Here's a possible traffic update from your near future:

"If you're sitting stuck on the parking lots previously known as Poinciana Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road, send your thanks to the Polk County Commission. Back in 1997, the commission blocked a north-south road that would have relieved the gridlock. Have a nice day."

A Poinciana developer and Osceola County are lobbying Polk County to reverse a decision they claim would ensure such a traffic nightmare.

Last month, Polk commissioners vacated the right-of-way for the long-planned Parker-Poinciana Highway, in effect taking the road off the map in favor of a mobile home park. The highway had been included in the long-range traffic plans of both counties and the two state planning agencies that oversee them.

Osceola and the developer, Parker-Poinciana Properties, are asking the Polk County Commission to reverse itself or face a lawsuit. Without the road, they say, the existing roads will be overrun by cars from Poinciana - a planned, city-sized development that today has a population of about 12,000 but could have 250,000 residents in the future.

When those residents leave home, a majority will drive north into Osceola.

"What we're doing now is going to affect us 10 or 15 years down the road," Osceola Commissioner Chuck Dunnick said.

Plans called for the highway to link Cypress Parkway, or County Road 580, in Polk County to Kinny Harmon Road, or County Road 58, near the Osceola-Polk county line near Loughman. The road would bisect Poinciana to become the area's main north-south route with access to U.S. Highway 17-92 and Interstate 4.

Instead, the Polk Commission voted to give the road land to the mobile home park developer.

The result of mega-planning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Poinciana sprawls across 47,000 acres southeast of U.S. Highway 17-92, covering parts of Osceola and Polk counties. Access has always been limited, with northbound residents having to funnel through Poinciana Boulevard or Pleasant Hill Road to come into Osceola and access major highways.

Polk commissioners are scheduled to rehear the issue Tuesday, but it is unclear whether they can legally change their earlier decision. Commission Chairman Neil Combee said he wants an opinion from the county's attorney.

"If there was a possibility that it was going to be built, we had no business closing it," said Combee, who cast the lone vote for keeping the road.

Other Polk commissioners noted that the road has been on the drawing board for years and no pavement had been put down. Some doubted whether it would ever be built, according to a transcript of the March hearing. Parker-Poinciana had no target date to develop the $8 million road.

If the Polk commission doesn't change its stance, Parker-Poinciana has no recourse other than a lawsuit, said Jeff Pashley, the developer's representative. Otherwise, future Poinciana residents are doomed to traffic snarls, which would obviously diminish the value of the developer's project.

"We just got cut off at the pass," Pashley said. Parker-Poinciana owns approximately 6,700 acres in Poinciana.

While Osceola officials say they would prefer not to enter the lawsuit, they authorized the county attorney to file documents supporting the developer in seeking to overturn the decision.

"Give as much help as you can without joining a lawsuit," Commissioner Ken Smith told the attorney.

If Osceola "intervenes" in the threatened lawsuit, it won't actually sue Polk but will lodge its displeasure for a judge to see, said Steve Samaha, Parker-Poinciana's attorney.

Before the decision, Osceola asked Polk to preserve the road, which would serve residents of each county.

Pashley said if Poinciana attains its planned size, the roads leading into the community will be choked beyond capacity.